Broadband Transmitters On Aircraft Similar To Iridium Satellites

Iridium uses a constellation of low-orbit satellites to provide cell service where there are no towers. The satellites bounce the signal around the planet in space until they get over the destination, then drop it to traditional cellular backhaul. Basically a packet-switched cell network where both the phone and the towers might be moving. Very cool.

Consider doing something similar with aircraft. Turn them into slower-moving, lower-altitude versions of the same idea. Phone connects to transceiver on aircraft, which bounces the signal to another aircraft some number of miles away, and this continues until the signal is over the destination, then down it goes to backhaul.

According to the FAA, there are about 7,000 airplanes in the air over the U.S. at any given time during the day (http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/briefing/). That looks like pretty good coverage. But to jump from one airplane to the next would require that the second airplane be visible (not over the horizon), which might not be possible much of the time.

A revised idea would still use airplanes as moving cell "towers", but the airplanes would drop the signal right back down to the nearest cell tower. This would still allow cellphones in dead zones to get a signal, at least more of the time.

Digital Camera Back Employing Foveon Sensor

Foveon invented a better sensor, but then had trouble interesting camera manufacturers in the technology.

Instead of needing to convince camera manufacturers to embed the technology in their cameras, the manufacturers could be circumvented by manufacturing Foveon-based digital camera backs for popular SLRs. This would be considerably simpler than manufacturing entire cameras.

Note: This idea turns out to be moot, because Foveon was acquired by Sigma. A disappointing outcome for a technology that was going to obsolesce all computers, cameras, and cellphones.

French Press With Lever

Coffee made in a French press is delicious, particularly when the grounds are ground very fine.

But when ground very fine, the grounds make it almost impossible to press down on the piston. The palm of the hand winds up bruised from the pressure.

The effort could be greatly reduced by adding a lever.

One end of the lever would attach to a hinge on one size of the cylinder, the piston would connect to the lever with a rotating pin, and the preparer would press down on the long end of the lever to drive the piston into the cylinder.

The lever and pin would be easy to remove, in order to clean the press.

Squirrel-proof Squirrel Feeder

I'm looking at our fourth squirrel feeder.

It is lying on the ground, the squirrels having chewed through the strap that was holding it up on a tree trunk. The top is halfway chewed through--and it's made of tough plastic.

The previous squirrel feeders fared no better. One made from wood was reduced to sawdust, another was knocked down and crushed by a car, and so forth.

It might require titanium-vanadium alloy, but there must be some way to make a squirrel feeder that can't be destroyed by squirrels.

Cat Toys That Work

You come home from the pet store with some new toys for your cat.

The cat is not interested.

Later you hear a racket, and discover that the cat is going nuts batting a button around and pouncing on it.

Why not create a product that consists of toys that cats will actually play with?

The product comes in a cardboard box big enough for a cat to get inside.

That's the first toy in the set.

Open the box, and take out a paper bag with a hole cut in the bottom.

That's the second toy.

Empty the paper bag and dump out:

• Roll of toilet paper.
• Pen, used, with cap.
• Tear-off ring from around the bottom of the plastic cap to a one-gallon plastic milk container.
• Crumpled ball of crackly paper.
• Ping-pong ball.
• Walnut.
• Wooden spool from a spool of thread.
• Metal bottlecap, bent across centerline, included angle of 120 degrees.
• Ball of twine.
• Twist tie.
  
• Medium-sized hard plastic cap from plastic medicine bottle.
• Catnip mouse.
  

Anyone with a cat will know how to play with their cat using these toys, but the product should include instructions written in a humorous fashion.

Note: There is at least one commercial cat toy that works:

http://www.go-cat.com/images/Da_Bird_with_Rod.jpg

It's been described as "cat fishing". Highly recommended.

The Galkie Kitty Tease also works great for this, but it is no longer manufactured.

Japanese Beer That Doesn't Taste Like Molson

Once upon a time, Sapporo and Asahi were brewed in Japan.

Then NAFTA passed.

Now Sapporo and Asahi are brewed in Canada, and brought into the United States under the trade agreement.

Which is great for globalization, except that now Sapporo and Asahi taste like Molson instead of tasting like Sapporo and Asahi.

Molson was already widely available in the United States.

What's not widely available in the United States is Japanese beer brewed in Japan.

There is pent-up demand for a solution to this problem: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/439245.

Sterile Pop-top Cans

It's hot, and you're on vacation.

You're sitting in a camp chair, feeling pretty darn good.

You reach into the cooler and pull out a can of soda.

You are about to pull the ring to open the can, when you notice that the groove around the rim of the top is smudged with black crud.

Yuck! What is that stuff?!?

That "stuff" is a mixture of rat feces (from the warehouse), road grime and diesel soot (from transportation), and bugs (from the shop at the dock where you bought the soda).

Ugh!

You look around for a solution, but this is a campsite--it doesn't have running water.

You could try to wash off the can in the lake, but who knows what might be swimming in the lake. Didn't you read just last week that hikers are contracting Cryptosporidium from meltwater in the Rockies? Is lakewater safe?

With a sigh, you swirl the can upside down in the meltwater at the bottom of the cooler (hey, at least the ice was made from chlorinated water, or was it?), wipe off the top of the can with your shirt, and hope for the best.

It doesn't have to be this way.

What we need is an improved canning machine. It would do everything current canning machines do, but would add a tough aluminum-foil cover over the top 1" of the sides of the can, and the entire top of the can. As long as the foil was not torn, the surfaces under the foil would be sterile.

To open this improved can, you would tear the foil to expose the pull ring and drinking area, much like tearing the foil on a champagne bottle exposes the wire that holds the cork in place. After tearing the foil, you would fold it away from the drinking area, like the petals of a flower (up, to the sides, and down), exposing the still-sterile interior. Then pull the ring, and drink.

The canning machine would melt the aluminum foil to the side of the can, so the foil and can are a single unit. This would keep the foil from becoming litter, and would make the can/foil unit easy to recycle together.

Canners and bottlers are always jockeying for position. Cans are lighter and easier to recycle. But bottled liquids taste better than canned liquids, and screw-tops on bottles expose sterile drinking surfaces. Adding sterile drinking surfaces to cans could tilt the advantage back to canners, so they should be eager to upgrade to the new canning machines. In addition, if one beverage maker insists on sterile cans, the rest of them will have to do so as well or risk liability.

While working to land the first major contract, the new canning machines could be used to make cans safe for high-risk patients, and for infants.